So, as you may or may not know, I work in a rather odd newsroom while I'm not doing this thing on here.

While writing that previous entry on the hexagram heng and how it represents an unusual sort of marriage, I get assigned to write two stories based on news clips from China -- one on this married couple and one on this married couple.

Must mean *something*, mustn't it?

So, we're at the halfway point. Cool. Smooth sailing from here on out, as long as we persevere, right?

This is the inverse of the previous hexagram, xian, which was about newlyweds. This one is about long familiarity and lasting-ness.

What's the character mean? The character for heng shows a heart next to a boat traveling between two shores. Oddly, I was just looking at the clickable Dao de jing on... more

Kentucky and China get all officially buddy-buddy. If you happen to live in KY, this relationship could be a chance to absorb some Chinese culture, start some kind of China-related something or maybe even swing some kind of official travel thing. Who knows?

They just had a conference, but it's part of a deeper relationship, or at least it wants... more

I remember when we were in China last, our facilitator explained that she had adopted a daughter, and that because she worked such long periods (three weeks in a go, 24 hours a day, babysitting groups of adoptive parents who needed help with paperwork, child care and, like, ordering food and hailing taxis) that her daughter went to a boarding kindergarten. And that this wasn't unusual in China. It gave only children an opportunity to bond, which is nice.

But ... more

The BBC and the Antipodean press are reporting on the sentencing of a child trafficking ring in Fujian Province.

There seems to be nothing on this in the American papers, which I personally find a little disturbing. But not as disturbing as the stories themselves:

BBC: Five people in eastern China have been sentenced to between seven years and life in jail for kidnapping and selling children, state media has reported.

The gang kidnapped four children in the city of Longyang in Fujian province... more

China's stock market continues to do awesome things.

Chinese stocks rose to a fresh record Monday, with the benchmark Shanghai composite index topping 3,100 for the first time on lively demand from securities funds and strong 2006 corporate earnings results.

Among the most actively traded companies, China United Telecommunications... more

Scarred Giant by Chris Harman.

its 500 day countdown to the Beijing games with yet another ... more

THE Master Lieh Tzu said: 'A dream is something that comes into contact with the mind; an external event is something that impinges on the body. Hence our feelings by day and our dreams by night are the result of contacts made by mind or body. It follows that if we can concentrate the mind in abstraction, our feelings and our dreams will vanish of themselves. Those who rely on their waking perceptions will not argue about them. Those who put faith in... more

Indiana Readers: an agency in Indianapolis is offering informal seminars as part of their "International Adoption Week".

Meanwhile, most news out of China has been about their athletic successes at the World Championships and, um, related events.

Kelly Scott and her Canadian team showed yesterday they can... more

In case you haven't been keeping up with Brian Stuy, on his Research-China blog he's running a series on birth parents called China Abandonment from the Inside.

From the first entry, dated March 8:

Over the next few weeks, Research-China.Org will be publishing a series of articles recounting interviews with birth parents who abandoned their children, and the Chinese individuals that found them. These articles will hopefully allow us to gain some insight into the motives and reactions of these individuals. These interviews were obtained by Chinese reporters, and represent a new trend in Chinese... more